


The Moral Ramifications of Dating a Ghoul

by Miss_Yuki



Category: Gravity Falls, Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: F/F, Gore, I wanted to see this crossover so badly, M/M, There will be porn in later chapters, but it's mostly pretty plot-heavy, so i did it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-04-11 23:24:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4456505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Yuki/pseuds/Miss_Yuki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper Pines is a young Rank 2 Ghoul Investigator under his great uncle, Stanford Pines. His first case is body clean-up for a serial-killer Ghoul who has thus far remained elusive. Due to his overprotective partner, he doesn't believe that he'll ever actively be tracking this murderer on an official assignment, but he quickly develops a great sense of curiosity in the case. It doesn't go unnoticed, and all too soon he's thrust into a dangerous game he never should have played...</p>
<p>I'm really bad at summaries please forgive me. I really just needed a Ghoul!Bill okay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Taste of Reality

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello! This is kind of my first time writing a fanfiction in nearly three years, so forgive me if I'm not at the top of my game. This idea is probably a terrible one but I've gotten some good feedback from other people about it so I decided to share it here, too! I hope you enjoy and if you like this, maybe drop me a comment? It would be much appreciated.

This was the moment he’d been training for. The very thing he’d known was going to come since he first attended classes on Ghoul hunting. He’d wanted this, _strived_ to stand exactly where he was standing right now, at this exact time, looking at this exact crime scene, and trying to discover just who the victim was, and what the best course of action would be to catch the Ghoul that had done this.

Knowing all that did nothing to help the nausea roiling around in his gut, though. The scene was gruesome, and it was his first real assignment. There was just something so different about seeing a mangled corpse in person, rather than on a screen in HD horror.   
  
If he had to guess the defining difference, it would be the smell.

Dipper Pines hadn’t been prepared for this at all, and he was suddenly wondering if he ever would be. The only reason he’d ever become a Dove in the first place was to study the behaviors of the Ghouls, and he thought he’d be just fine to examine their terrifying handiwork as well, but no amount of studying or training could have possibly helped to make him aware of the awful _stench_ lingering in the air.   
  
The body before him was that of a woman, stripped of all clothing and strung up like a marionette, with her belly cut open and all of her internal organs hanging out. That was another problem. She shouldn’t have her organs. They should have been consumed. The very thought made Dipper gag, but he had known that it was necessary for Ghouls to eat organs before he’d come here… It just hadn’t bothered him before now.   
  
“Kid, quit staring and get to work. Get this woman down and get her in a body bag.” came a gruff voice from beside the young Dove, and he swallowed thickly as his partner and great uncle, Stanford Pines, moved forward to check around the area under the bridge they were beneath for signs of kagune useage. The young adult shivered, but did as he was told, fishing a sharp pocket knife from his jacket and moving towards the suspended lady. Her head was lulled forward, so he couldn’t see her eyes; something he was thankful for. Even so, he hesitated when he heard the wet slap of his own shoe stepping down into the pool of coagulated and drying blood, and his breath caught in his throat as the rotten smell of death hit him square in the face.

He barely registered that he was vomiting at first, so utterly shocked by it all that it took a few moments for the black to clear from his vision enough to see that he was bent over, and now his half-dissolved lunch had added to the mess beneath him. He almost vomited again, but instead covered his mouth and nose and rushed out from under the bridge, taking in huge lungfuls of air when he finally thought he was clear from the pungent smell of decomposition.   
  
“Hey! Kid! You’re going to have to get over that at some point or another, you know.” Stan called, sighing heavily as he himself moved to swiftly cut away the multiple fishing lines that had kept the body upright. Dipper cringed when he heard the sickening thump of the body, and then his great uncle was beside him, patting his back awkwardly. “Whoever did this is sick, kid. All of those bastard Ghouls are. But that’s why we’re here. You build up a tolerance to this after a while, and then you can help make the world free from those monsters.” he grumbled, and then moved past the younger man to fetch the body bag from their truck.

Dipper was still having a hard time processing it all, but he knew that Stan was right. Besides, he had a goal here aside from just studying the Ghouls. He was out for revenge.

Nobody hurt his twin sister.

At least, nobody who wanted to continue living.

He was glad he’d been there when it happened, or else his twin might not have been lucky enough to escape with her life. They’d been attacked seemingly out of nowhere, on their way home from a club Mabel had dragged him to on his twenty first birthday. In hindsight, they never should have been wandering around the 20th Ward at that time of night, and they especially hadn’t tried to take a shortcut through back alleys. Dipper had been lucky to have his gun on him, because even though it hadn’t really hurt the Ghoul, it had still made enough noise to alert anyone nearby. He’d gotten away with a few scrapes and bruises. Mabel had the misfortune of having her shoulder savagely bit into.

And now the girl was so self-conscious that she couldn’t wear any of her old clothes. She’s taken up sweaters again, a fashion choice she hadn’t displayed since they were pre-teens. Dipper always felt as though he were at fault. He hadn’t acted soon enough. Before he could process what was happening, he’d been thrown against a building, and couldn’t even move until he heard the piercing shriek rip from his sister’s lungs.

He’d scared the Ghoul off, but Mabel spent the next month in the hospital.

Now here he was, three years later, and still feeling as helpless as he had that night.

He hadn’t realized how deep in thought he was until he heard an irritated clearing of the throat, and turned to see that Stan was already finished bagging up the body, and was holding up one end of it and attempting to drag it over. “Kid, I’ve got a bad back. quit your daydreaming and help me out, will you?” The older man groused, frowning at Dipper not in irritation, but in understanding. He knew what Dipper was feeling. After all, he’d felt the same way once upon a time, when he’d first started out.

“Yeah, sorry Grunkle Stan.” the younger Dove said, swallowing down his nausea and forcing himself to go help the old man. The body was quickly loaded into the van with Dipper’s help, and then they were returning to the CCG to have the body thoroughly examined to check if any of the organs were missing.

“Hey, Stan? How’d they figure out this guy was a Ghoul in the first place? I mean, it didn’t look like…” Dipper trailed off, furrowing his brow and biting back the words ‘ _didn’t look like she was eaten_.’ He couldn’t stomach saying them out loud.

The older man offered a noncommittal shrug and glanced over at his nephew from his place at the wheel. “Same guy offed a lot of other people like this. Most of them looked like the girl back there, organs falling out but still there. But two or three were missing their lungs, and one had a bite taken out of his neck. Coroner said it happened close enough to the time of death to assume the attacker had done it. Besides, they found two other Ghouls strung up like that, and we know that it could really only have been another Ghoul to take them out like they were. The CCG doesn’t leave Ghoul corpses about. And what kind of serial killer stands a chance against those monsters?” Stan explained, keeping his eyes firmly on the road as he spoke. But Dipper noticed a near-imperceptible tightening of the older man’s hands on the wheel. He was on edge. He was angry. This was new, and frightening.

It was a mockery to humans.

Dipper understood his uncle’s anger, knowing that the old man’s twin had been taken from him, and he was still bitter about it every day. Hell, he’d taken his twin’s name in honor of him and swore vengeance on every Ghoul he ever encountered.

He’d moved up in the ranks of the CCG fairly quickly because of his efficiency when it came to exterminate Ghouls, which was fueled entirely by the rage he felt towards them. Dipper counted himself lucky to have been placed under Stanford’s care, because he wasn’t sure he really trusted anyone else to have his back were he to face a Ghoul anytime soon.

The rest of the car ride was quiet, as Dipper didn’t want to upset his great uncle any more than he already clearly was. They’d parted ways soon after returning to their workplace, too, with Stanford taking the body down to the morgue to be examined, and Dipper making his way upstairs to file out his report on the assignment. Since there had been no real incidents to speak of, it was a fairly quick job, and so he had it turned in within half an hour. He could have gone home at that point, but there was something else he needed to do.

Upon returning to his desk, he pulled out the journal he kept in the bottom drawer and began writing notes on what he’d found. He’d read up about the other cases, and had diligently noted where, when, and how the bodies had been strung up, but this was the first one he’d seen with his own eyes, and he described the scene as best he could before moving on to the next task. He kept a folded map in the second drawer, and was keeping track of the areas the bodies were found. With a red marker, he added another dot to the paper, and counted a total of fourteen bodies.

So far.

But, as he was lucky to find, this newest body was still in the radius he’d predicted. He was going to zero in on the most likely hiding spots for this Ghoul, and he was going to catch him. His coworkers had told him to leave it to the professionals, but after today, all Dipper wanted was to find the bastard that had done this and put him six feet under.

Finally, when he had everything in order, he tucked his journal into his canvas bag and the map back in its drawer, and then he was headed home. Mabel had promised pot roast tonight, his favorite, to celebrate his first real assignment. He made his way out of the building and to his truck, locking the doors before the vehicle was even started. He didn’t walk around much anymore. And he didn’t trust anybody but his family.

Even in his large, reliable truck, he still wanted to get home as quickly as possible, since he hated to leave Mabel alone for so long. He didn’t know, couldn’t have possibly known, about the golden-eyed being watching from afar, grinning widely at the prospect of new prey.

It only took him half an hour to get home from his office building, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he finally pulled into his designated parking space in the apartment building’s lot. Mabel’s car was sitting beside his, which meant she’d already done her grocery shopping for the day, and was likely already upstairs cooking. As if on cue, his stomach growled loudly to hurry him up, and he sighed as he grabbed his bag and exited the vehicle and made his way towards the staircase. As always, he thoroughly examined the open space around him, making sure that he wasn’t being followed, or that nothing suspicious was going on. Of course, he knew that he himself probably looked incredibly suspicious when he was surveying the area in such paranoia, but he didn’t care. It was hard to tell Ghouls and humans apart, and he couldn’t possibly be too careful.

The only thing out of the ordinary, though, was a little stray kitten he hadn’t seen before, and a little girl stooped over to pet it off in the corner where the buildings separated into a walkway that led to their complex’s pool. She was talking quietly to the creature, something Dipper couldn’t quite hear and didn’t really care enough to listen to, so he moved on and  made his way up the two flights of stairs to the third floor, and passed four other doors until he finally reached his own.

“Mabel, I’m home.” he called into the apartment as he fumbled around in his bag to find the key. It was usually a race to see who could unlock the door first- Dipper because he wanted to be safe in his own home, and Mabel because she was excited to see her brother. She won this round, though, and the door was pulled open just as he was lining up the key with the keyhole.

“Hey there, bro bro!” Mabel greeted, a grin splitting her face as she held open the door until he had stepped inside, and then she was closing and locking it just as quickly as it had been yanked open. “How was your day? Did you get to see any Ghouls? C’mon, tell me you got to deck one in the face!” she said excitedly, already a bubbly ball of energy that Dipper was sure he wasn’t going to be able to keep up with. Not after the day he’d had.

“No, Mabel, they’re not assigning me any dangerous cases like that yet. I was on body retrieval today.” Dipper sighed, hanging his bag up on its designated hook in the entryway before slipping his shoes off and padding over to the living area. Their floor plan was simple, one big open area for the living room and kitchen-slash-dining room, two bedrooms on either side of the living area, a guest bathroom, and shuttered doors off to the side concealing their laundry. They each had a balcony connected to their rooms, too. It was comfortable like this. They felt closer in their small space, and being close was important to them both.

“Aww, boo! Well tell me about the body then. Was it all gross and eaten? I heard that there’s a Ghoul that’s ripping faces off. Was it one of those?” Mabel was not to be deterred. She wanted details, and Dipper would be hard-pressed not to give them to her. She was relentless when she wanted to know something. “Listen, Mabel, I’m not really used to this yet, and you’re about to feed me meat. Can we just… wait until after dinner?” Dipper asked, still disturbed by the mental image and instantly regretting his own mention of eating meat. Now he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to eat at all.

His sister twisted her lips in a frown, clearly frustrated, but she changed the topic anyway, seeing that her brother was genuinely upset and not just being difficult. “So Candy wants to take us out to dinner on Friday. She got a promotion at work and wants us to celebrate with her and Grenda.” she said, moving over to the Crock Pot to check on the meal inside. Dipper nodded absentmindedly, flipping on the TV and turning it to the news. He muted it, and switched to closed captioning so he could keep updated without being rude to his sister.   
  
“Yeah, that sounds great. As long as you three aren’t going to try and set me up on a date again.” He said, eyes glued to the screen to check if there was news of any more Ghoul attacks over the day. Nothing so far, or else they just weren’t reporting it. He’d find out tomorrow at work, but he could see about the other Wards here too. “The last girl didn’t really seem interested in me.” he mumbled, mostly to himself. Mabel heard it anyway, or else she just guessed he was going to say it.

“The only reason that didn’t work is because you wouldn’t shut up about Ghouls! Most girls don’t wanna hear about that, and especially don’t want to hear your insane theories on how close they are to humans. They’re just monsters.” she groaned, shaking her head and pulling down two bowls to serve up their meal. “And no, actually, Candy’s been after this promotion for months. Do you think I’d lie about something like that?” she asked, faking a look of heartbreak and sticking out her lower lip to pout at Dipper.

He rolled his eyes and finally smiled, getting up from his spot on the couch and walked over, pulling open the silverware drawer and grabbing each of them a fork as Mabel served up the pot roast. “Okay, fine. I believe you. Where are we going to eat?” he asked.

“You know that really fancy Northwest place?” Mabel said, grinning widely as she saw her brother’s jaw drop in shock.   
  
“No. There’s no way Candy is taking us there. Don’t you need to be like, a celebrity to get in there?” Dipper demanded, eyes wide with disbelief. “Dummy, what do you think Candy does? She works in the movie industry, she’s got connections. And now she’s been promoted to the board of directors of Gravity Falls productions! She’s worked really hard for this, and she’s excited to share her success with us!” Mabel huffed, flicking her brother on the forehead to emphasize how disappointed she was with his lack of knowledge on one of her best friends.   
  


Dipper still couldn’t quite grasp that he was going to be dining at the most elite restaurant in… probably the world, honestly, but he knew better than to argue with Mabel. “Okay, well… I’ll have to see what my schedule is going to be like but I’m sure Grunkle Stan won’t mind letting me off early if it comes down to that.” He said, offering a small smile to his twin and then grabbing his food from her and jerking his head towards the couch.   
  
“Gratuitous amounts of hospital drama?” he asked, turning and taking a step back to allow his sister space to squeeze through him and the cabinets.   
  
“Gratuitous amounts of hospital drama.” She confirmed with a nod, and then grinned widely before slipping past him and making her way to the faded purple couch. He chuckled and followed behind her, carefully setting his meal on the coffee table and then unceremoniously dropping to the couch and flipping through the channels until he saw the telltale grumpy face of one Gregory House.

They spent the next half hour in silence as they devoured their roast, and then once Dipper had done the dishes, the next three were filled with heated debates over what illnesses the patients had in each episodes. Finally, a yawn slipped past Mabel’s lips, and Dipper decided he’d better get plenty of sleep before tomorrow. He was sure that he was going to need it, given that he’d probably be working another cleanup case in the morning. He was sure that nightmares about the dead woman were already going to haunt him.

“Better hit the hay. It’s already past eleven, and I have to be up at seven.” He sighed, flipping off their flat-screen tv and standing. He stretched his muscles briefly, and almost smacked Mabel when she took the opportunity to tickle his armpit. She knew tickling was his weakness. “Don’t do that, it was a pleasant stretch before you butted in.” He grumbled, glaring angrily at her. She just grinned and patted his shoulder.

“Go to sleep, loser. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.” She chuckled, and then they were heading off to their separate bedrooms for the night.

Dipper went about his nightly routine as normal: stripping down to his boxers, brushing his teeth, and donning his preferred questionmark T-shirt before slipping into bed and settling down under the comforter. But when he closed his eyes, he found that the only thing waiting for him was images of the dead woman’s body, and no matter how hard he tried to think of something else, she was all he could see.

He didn’t get very much sleep that night.

 


	2. The First Sign of Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go! Actually a bit faster than I had intended but uh... oh well! I'm going to a con this weekend so I won't be able to update until next week-ish. Until then, enjoy!

Dipper was like a zombie the next morning, and it didn’t go unnoticed by anybody. Even Stanford, who usually acted as if he didn’t care for his nephew’s well-being, commented on his exhausted state.

“Kid, why do look like your batteries need changing? I haven’t seen you this powered down since you were in university studying for finals.” the old man said, frowning and patting his nephew’s shoulder heavily.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I just didn’t get much sleep last night. Noisy neighbors. Decided to throw a party.” Dipper lied, deciding it best not to mention the nightmares of the dead woman that had plagued him every time he drifted off. After all, Stanford actually _did_ care about him, and if he expressed his dismay over yesterday’s case, he was sure the old man would be having even less important cases handed to him.

“Yeah, well, next time call the cops. You can’t be this disconnected on the job. Go grab a cup of coffee, we’re heading out in an hour. Another body showed up.” Stanford said, patting Dipper once more before turning and heading in the other direction.

Dipper almost puked. Another body? So soon? This was sick. Absolutely and completely disgusting. He suddenly felt the urge to punch something, but quelled it as best he could, since any property damage would come out of his paycheck. With a long and heavy sigh, he decided to take his great uncle’s advice and headed for the nearest break room, knowing that there was always a fresh pot of coffee sitting around for whoever needed it.

It was just to his luck, though, that there was only enough left for one more cup sitting in the pot. Which meant he was the one who’d have to refill it. Office rules, after all. He groaned audibly and poured the remainder of the liquid energy into a styrofoam cup, only to find that he’d gotten quite a bit of leftover grounds dumped in with it.

That was just adding insult to injury. He was _not_ awake enough to deal with this. Still, he knew he had to, so he just dumped the coffee into the sink, rinsed out the pot, and set to making fresh coffee. This time, he wasn’t going to get all the leftover grounds in the bottom of his drink.

Just as the hot coffee began filtering through and pouring into the pot, somebody else walked in. And if it had been anyone else, he probably wouldn’t have noticed or cared.

But it wasn’t anyone else. It was Wendy Corduroy. Damn it.

“Hey, Dipper, you feeling okay? You look like hell warmed over.” she noted, coming up to stand beside him against the counter and carefully examine his features for signs of illness.

“Yeah! Um, no, I’m fine, I just… needed some coffee is all!” Oh, he was such a smooth-talker.

“Come on, is this about that body?” As always, Wendy could see right through him. She’d been able to ever since their first meeting at the University. He’d hated that, especially since he’d found her so attractive, but could never work up the courage Damn her. And damn her good looks, too.

He let out another sigh, for what felt like the billionth time that day, and looked at the wall across from him. Anywhere but her face. "Yeah. It's… it’s just so different seeing it in person.” he muttered, biting down lightly on his lip at the memory of pale, stiff flesh and spilled out organs.

“I know, dude. It’s pretty rough, but you… kinda get used to it after a while. It’s never really going to sit right with you, but it at least gets easier to handle. Have you been assigned a quinque yet?” she asked, trying to change the topic for his benefit.

“Well… yeah, but it’s not much. It’s more for self defense than attacking, really. Grunkle Stan says I won’t get a real one until I take down a Ghoul myself. Something about a trophy.” Dipper said, frowning a little and scratching at his head. “Besides, I’ve only just been assigned as a Rank 2 Ghoul Investigator. I’ve got plenty of Q bullets for my gun, though.” he continued, knowing that he was comfortable enough using his gun that he knew he’d be able to use it if the time came.   
  
“Oh, yeah, well I guess that makes sense. Mine’s pretty simple, I’ve just got an axe. The blade is about as big as my torso, though. I had the kagune made from my third takedown. Guy was pretty big, and was a Koukaku-type Ghoul. Made it pretty easy to fashion my giant axe.” she explained, making vague gestures with her hands as she described things.

Dipper nodded quietly as she continued to speak about how she’d taken him down, but he was more closely paying attention to the sounds of liquid heaven pouring down into the pot behind him. When he heard it slow, and then stop, he casually shifted to grab the handle and poured himself a fresh cup. “Yeah that’s… kind of intense. I’m nervous for my first takedown, but I’ve got enough combat training to figure it out. Listen, Grunkle Stan is waiting for me, but I’m really glad we got to have this conversation. I appreciate you trying to help out.” he said, smiling and nodding at her before shifting away.

“Yeah man, I get it. Let me know how it goes today. You’ve got my email, right?” she asked, pouring a cup for herself. “Of course. I’ll send you a message later. Um, thanks again, I’ll see you later.” Dipper replied, heading off with a wave and letting out _another_ sigh as he finally escaped the awkward encounter.

That had taken up a good half hour of his time, and now he didn’t have long to relax before his assignment. He decided it wasn’t even worth it to try, so he bypassed his own cubicle and headed for Stanford’s office instead. He drank the coffee as he went, glad for his ability to tolerate the scalding heat, even if it numbed his tongue just a bit. He needed the energy, and didn’t particularly care that he probably wouldn’t be able to taste anything until tomorrow.   
  
“Stan? Just uh, I’m ready to go whenever you are.” He called through the door, following a light knock. The older man didn’t even bother to come to the door, but invited his nephew in, so Dipper pushed it open and moved to sit in one of the two chairs in front of Stanford’s desk. He looked to be rather engaged in his work on the computer, but if Dipper had to guess, he’d say that the old man was actually playing a game of online Solitaire.

“Just let me finish this up, and then we’ll head out. Coffee any good?” The old man asked, glancing briefly at the cup in Dipper’s hand and then turning back to his screen.

Dipper frowned. Stanford really wasn’t much for small talk, and frankly, neither was Dipper.

“It’s fine. Just made it.” He said, looking down at the cup and lifting it to take another sip. The wet noise effectively filled the awkward silence between the two, and as soon as he’d lowered the cup he pulled out his phone to text Mabel. There wasn’t much effort at talking after that.

Because it had been so quiet, though, Dipper was startled fifteen minutes later when his Grunkle let out a frustrated huff and just about slammed his mouse down with a bang onto the desk.

“Alright, let’s go. Go get your quinque, I’ve been warned about the area we’re going to, lot of Ghouls hiding about.” Stanford warned, finally rising out of his chair and jerking his head to the door. Dipper nodded in response, not bothering with a verbal reply as he headed out to his own desk to fetch his briefcase.

The quinque inside was a standard Tsunagi sword, one he hoped he wasn’t going to have to use any time soon. Sure, he knew he was going to have to someday, he just hoped he would be prepared.

\------------------------------------------------------

The cleanup was already a little easier today. The body was fresher, and hadn’t started to stink so badly yet, and he managed to avoid looking in the dead man’s face long enough to get him in the body bag. He had been strung up and disemboweled just like the girl from the day before, and Dipper was even able to cut him down himself with little more than some gagging. Stanford, meanwhile went about his routine of surveying the area. This time, the body was hanging from steel beams surrounding a half-completed building. Apparently, the crewmen had found him when they’d arrived in the morning, so he had probably only been there for a few hours. Rigor mortis had already set in, but given that he didn’t smell quite so foul yet, Dipper figured the man had probably been killed in the wee hours of the morning.

Why was this Ghoul killing without eating the bodies? It didn’t make sense. It was almost like he was doing it for fun. So far, they hadn’t found any connections between the victims, so it didn’t seem like any sort of revenge or punishment to the individuals.

“Hey, Grunkle Stan, have they figured out any sort of motive for this yet?” Dipper asked as they were loading up the body into the van. “I mean, this can’t just be random. There has to be a reason this is happening.”

“Stop right there, Dipper. There is no reason for this. Ghouls are heartless monsters. Half the time they kill for fun and only eat the bodies because they can. If not all the time, anyways.” Stanford suddenly looked bitter, and Dipper knew he must be remembering something grim. Probably his own brother’s death. “I don’t know why this one _isn’t_ eating the bodies, but it’s irrelevant. Our job isn’t to figure the Ghouls out, it’s to wipe them out before they can kill the people we care about.”

Dipper pursed his lips and looked back at where the silvery threads of fishing line were blowing gently in the wind, like spiderwebs left from a black widow. He supposed he should take those down before they left. “I just.. I think there’s more to Ghouls than we think we know. They’re not animals. They’re intelligent beings, and I think they’re closer to humans than-” he was cut off by a swift smack upside the head, and groaned as he looked back at his partner and great uncle. And if he didn’t know better, he would have thought Stanford was a beast himself, right in that moment.

“ _Ghouls are nothing like humans_.” he hissed, his hands curling into fists at his sides as his eyes took on a cruel and spiteful gleam. Dipper was sure that anyone else would have wet their pants. “They’re monsters, Dipper. That’s it. They have no motivation except to murder and torture humans.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. I just… it’s just a theory-”

“Well it’s wrong. We’re here to kill Ghouls. Not come up with stupid theories. End of discussion.”  
  
Dipper frowned, and figured it best not to say anything else. Instead, he just turned and made his way to the ladder propped against one of the steel beams, standing it up closer to the threads so he could cut them loose.

Once they were done with primary cleanup, they were heading back to the office. The car ride was tense and mostly silent, aside from the soft music trickling in through the speakers. That didn’t last too long, though, as his great uncle flipped off the radio entirely and effectively crushed Dipper’s hope of a slightly less awkward ride.

Stanford only gave him a few clipped words of instruction when they got back, and Dipper went about his routine of filing the paperwork and then taking his personal notes. Once that was done, he left the office without saying his farewells to his uncle and superior.

\---------------------------------------------------------

The next few days followed in a similarly tense manner, as Stanford still hadn’t quite gotten over his irritation at Dipper. And, of course, Dipper respected that. He knew that Stan had even more reason to be wary and hateful of Ghouls, but he still thought it might be an overreaction to such a simple comment. Oh well. He still wasn’t going to be angry at Stanford, because it was better to just forgive and forget than make it even more of an issue.

It took three days until they were back to their normal attempts at small talk when they weren’t on the job, and when they were they were able to speak normally about what needed to be done. Most of the air had been cleared, and for that, Dipper was glad.

Another week brought the young Dove his first assignment to take out a Ghoul. Apparently the target was a man who was Dipper’s junior by three years. He’d been wandering around from ward to ward, putting on magic shows and then selecting one member from his audience to later attack and devour. Gideon Gleeful was his name- a Koukaku-type Ghoul- and he’d been a challenge, but nothing Dipper couldn’t handle.

He’d had his kagune made into a warhammer. It came in handy two days later, when they took out Gideon’s father.

Things seemed to be getting easier, and the serial killer Ghoul hadn’t left them any bodies for a while. Dipper was grateful for that, and wondered for a bit if maybe the mystery man had been offed by another Ghoul.   
  
Except that within the next week, he got his answer in the most violent way possible.

It had been after work, and he’d walked two blocks to the nearest grocery store to pick up something for dinner that Mabel had forgotten, and had managed to get there and find the ingredient with no trouble. But on the way back, he was startled by a tap on the shoulder. While he was under a bridge. With nobody around, and the sun descending behind the horizon. He was on full alert in seconds, and was entirely too happy he’d brought his briefcase with him.

When he spun around to face whoever had touched him, he came face to face with a bright yellow mask with a wide grin, and one black and red eye staring at him through a hole on the left side with the Eye of Horus painted around it. A black top hat with a yellow band sat firmly on bright blonde hair, peeking out a bit under the brim. The rest of him was covered entirely by a black cloak, but Dipper could tell he was bent over somewhat. And he was clearly several inches taller than the human.   
  


“Good evening, Pine tree.” A distorted, echoed, and nasally voice purred from behind the mask.

Dipper dropped his grocery bag the second he realized what was going on, and swung his briefcase around in an attempt to knock the Ghoul away from him. The man only laughed maniacally and jumped back, flashing a peek of a yellow waistcoat and black slacks underneath the cloak and giving the Dove an opportunity to snap open his briefcase and yank out his hammer, glaring darkly at the masked monster.

“No need for that, kid. I wanted to have a little talk, is all.” The distorted voice continued, and he made no move to approach Dipper again. The human was wary all the same.

“Who are you?” he demanded, gripping the hammer tightly in his hands and wondering why exactly he was going along with this. He should be attacking, damnit! This guy was a Ghoul, and they weren’t exactly well known for their pleasant conversations.

“Kid, I’m wearing a mask. That’s supposed to hide my identity, do you really think I would just tell you that? I’ll give you a hint, though. You already know what I am, you just don’t know who. Here’s another one for you. I’ve watched you clean up six of my twentyfive playmates.”

Dipper’s blood ran cold.

This was the Ghoul they’d been cleaning up after. The serial killer who had managed to go undetected for months now. Yet here he was, blatantly outing himself to a Dove who’d been active in the case.

No, wait, that couldn’t be right, this guy had to be lying. The serial killer wouldn’t reveal himself like this, he’d worked so hard to remain hidden this whole time, skillfully dodging detection and yet putting his bodies on display where he knew they would be found.

Wait. That was it. That was where Dipper caught his lie.

“Liar. There haven’t been twentyfive. There’s only been nineteen. Who are you really, and why are you posing as a criminal? I already have a duty to snuff you out, why make it worse on yourself?!” Dipper snapped, eyes narrowing in annoyance. What was this guy’s problem, anyway? He was going to die, surely he knew that when he approached Dipper.

Unless he was being mocked.

His anger was boiling up in him now, and he was just about to rush forward when he saw four golden, scaled tentacles burst out from behind the Ghoul, and immediately shot up to the supports running parallel under the surface of the bridge, and Dipper’s heart dropped to his stomach when he heard a wet noise, and then suddenly there were six bodies dropping down around him, all strung up with the same fishing line, and all with their organs spilling out as soon as they fell down.

Dipper was splattered with their blood, and he froze in horror, quickly putting together what was happening. This had been planned, and he’d walked right into the Ghoul’s trap. He felt his body grow hot for a second, and then he was lurching over and retching violently on the concrete.

The Ghoul just laughed, and Dipper jumped back with a startled cry when he felt one of the scaly tentacles slide across his shoulder. “Don’t fucking touch me!” he snapped, raising the hammer again and trying to focus on the Ghoul standing before him rather than the six bodies hanging down around him. Oh god just the thought made him sick again.

“Aww, I didn’t mean to frighten you, kid. I just figured you might want a little proof as to who I am, that’s all.” the masked man laughed, withdrawing the kagune and letting them sway idly behind him. “Have I convinced you?” he purred, taking a step forward.

Dipper knew what had to be done. He had to take this opportunity and rid the world of one more psychopath. He didn’t waste another moment, lunging forward with a growl and swinging his hammer viciously at the Ghoul.

Having predicted the move, the monster swiftly stepped back, and in an instant, one of his kagune was wrapped around the handle of the hammer, and another was gripping Dipper’s wrist. The eye behind the mask narrowed slightly, in what looked like amusement, and that thought was proven right as malicious laughter rang out around him, loud enough that he could almost make out the voice behind the distortion.

“Now, now, Pine tree, didn’t I say I just wanted to talk?” the chuckling voice continued, and then the black and red eye hardened and a much more serious tone was directed at him. “I’m not going to kill you. Not unless you keep this shit up, got it?” he snapped, forcefully shoving Dipper back and withdrawing his kagune entirely in a show of faith.   
  
“You just dropped six bodies around me! You really fucking think I’m going to trust you right-”

“Think of that as my… credentials. I needed to prove to you who I was before we could continue on. I know you. I’ve watched you. You’re a skeptic to the core, that much is obvious. And I like that. Not many people have the guts to doubt the way things are.” the masked man interrupted, and Dipper bit his tongue to keep from snapping back at him. But there was truth to those words, and the human couldn’t help but wonder where this was going.  
  
“I don’t want to talk to you. I’m going to call the CCG in two minutes. You have that much time to explain what the fuck you want from me.” He growled, severely disturbed by the events unfolding around him, but knowing that this Ghoul was not something he could take on alone. For now, he had to play it smart and let him talk, and maybe then he’d leave Dipper alone.

Or maybe not. Either way, he was fucked if the psychopath standing before him decided to attack.

But he didn’t. He just chuckled again and made some movement under his cloak that had Dipper on edge, and he raised his hammer slightly.   
  
“Calm down. Just put my hands in my pockets, that’s all. I don’t plan on attacking you. Two minutes, right? Lower your hammer, and I’ll speak my piece.” The Ghoul demanded, looking down at the weapon with disinterest. Honestly, he knew that Dipper was no match for him. Even so, he wanted a vote of confidence from the young man. He meant what he said. He wasn’t going to kill the Dove. Not today, anyways.

Dipper swallowed heavily, glancing around briefly at the bodies surrounding him, hesitant to obey. But… he’d only taken out two Ghouls before, and both times he’d had Stanford there to back him up. He had no choice but to listen to the maniac. He begrudgingly lowered it to rest the head against the ground, but he kept it gripped tightly in his right hand.

“Excellent! Now, where to start..” the Ghoul hummed for a moment, and Dipper couldn’t help but shiver at the way the distortion made it sound. “Ah! I’ve got it. Okay, listen up. First of all, you should know that I’ve been watching you. I know your name, your family, where you live, what you had for dinner last Monday. So, in summary, I’m stalking you and could have killed you at any point since the day you first showed up to that bridge to clean up what’s-her-face. But I didn’t.”

Dipper’s face paled. Given what he’d witnessed so far from this man, he didn’t doubt that what he was saying was the truth. He’d been in danger this whole time, and hadn’t even noticed. Worse, he’d put Mabel in danger. A shiver made its way down his spine just then, and he swallowed heavily and gripped his hammer tighter.

“... What else?” he asked, his voice strained and clipped. There had to be more, right? If he was telling Dipper that he _could_ have killed him and _hadn’_ t yet, there had to be some sort of condition. Unless the Ghoul was just fucking with him.

“Well like I was saying. You’re not dead yet. See, I like you, kid. I don’t want to have to kill you. So I’m here to offer you a deal. You wanna know more about Ghouls, right? I can show you as much as you want to know. On one condition. I want you to date me.” The eye behind the mask crinkled as if the mouth behind it was mimicking the one painted atop.

Dipper blinked and tried a few times to form a reply, but his mouth just moved wordlessly as shock and mild disgust swept through him. But before he could actually get anything out, the other man raised his hand up to stop whatever might thoughtlessly tumble out.   
  
“Let me explain. Like I said, I like you. I want to keep watching you and see what you can observe about our kind. So, I’m going to direct you to places where you will see Ghouls and humans alike, and I’ll watch to see if you can spot the difference. I want to see that brain of yours work. Prove your theories to yourself, and, maybe someday, to others.” He could see that Dipper was starting to get the picture, but doubt and confusion still flickered across his face. The Ghoul just chuckled. “Any questions?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and waiting for a reply.   
  


Dipper didn’t know what to say. This couldn’t be real, right? And… why was he calling this ‘dating’ instead of ‘stalking’? Guess he’d find out soon enough.   
  
“... What’s the catch? You’re going to give me all this information, and you just want to watch me. There’s gotta be something more, right?” the Dove asked, ever dubious of the monster before him.   
  
“Clever kid! You ask just the right questions. Yeah, here’s the second part of the deal. Stop investigating me. I’ll let you learn as much as you want from other Ghouls, but frankly, I have a goal and I’m not going to let you stop me because you can’t keep your nose out of my business.” he said, clapping his gloved hands together briefly before dropping them to the side again. And then his eye was darkening, and despite the distortion, Dipper could clearly hear the change in tone at the Ghoul’s next sentence.

“I really don’t want to have to kill you.”

A chill shot up the human’s spine, and his fingers twitched around the handle of his hammer. His adam’s apple bobbed briefly as he swallowed the lump that had suddenly developed in his throat, but he still didn’t back down.   
  
He was about to answer, but the other beat him to it; his voice back to it’s lighthearted playfulness. “I’ll give you three days to make up your mind, Pine Tree! Leave a note under your mat before you go to work. Don’t disappoint me!”

And with that, the Ghoul was turning with a brief wave of his hand and walking away casually, leaving behind an utterly confused and horrified Dipper and six dead bodies.

The human watched the masked man retreat, and once he was no longer in his line of sight, he reached a trembling hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, dialing the third number he had on speed dial.

A few rings, and then a gruff voice greeted him.

His voice cracked when he spoke. “Hey, Grunkle Stan? There’s uh… been an incident.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHAHAHAHHAHAH BILL HAS ARRIVED YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
> 
> Okay no please forgive me for his terrible description of appearance. I have a really bad reference picture of his mask but I'm sure this is good enough for now. Little note- none of his skin is showing at all. He's got his hands covered in the gloves, his neck is covered in a similar manner as Kaneki, with the black fabric, and his hair is /just/ long enough to cover his ears, with the hat pushing it down. So yeah. Dipper can really only see his eye. Anyway. There will be more BillDIp interaction soon, so look forward to that!
> 
> Also I'm sorry for how many sighs there are at the beginning of the chapter, I know I wrote it a bunch but you have to realize just how tired and DONE Dipper is.


	3. Playing a Dangerous Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper is dizzy with the aftermath of coming face-to-face with the notorious serial killer, whom he's named "Horus", and is forced to make a difficult decision. Good thing Mabel is there to help him stay calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so here's the chapter I abandoned a while back. It's about to get good, but I'm exhausted and this chapter is long enough as it is, so I'm just going to split it apart instead of doing it all at once. This chapter was really kind of rushed and hard to do, because I'm bad at mundane interactions half the time. Forgive me. Also, this chapter has pretty graphic depictions of gore, so... tw I guess?

Dipper still wasn’t entirely sure that he wasn’t dreaming when he got home that night. Even when Mabel punched him in the arm for not calling sooner, he thought maybe he’d wake up soon enough, and head off to work like usual. But no, he was very much awake, and very much in shock.

The evening passed by in a dull blur for him, as Mabel forced him into the shower to clean off the blood on his body while she went to wash his clothes. She’d be burning them later, but there was no need for them to be soaked in blood until that happened.

When he’d wandered out of the bathroom, he half-heard some concerned lecture from his sister, and then he was directed onto the couch and a hot mug of cocoa was forced into his hand, and what looked like Doctor Who was put on for him to watch. Not wanting Mabel to be too upset, he sipped dutifully at the mug he’d been handed, and occasionally made a comment about the show. Not that he was actually paying attention. At all.

Still, his efforts seemed to calm Mabel down enough to not be too stressed, especially when he flashed her a soft smile and told her that he was fine. It wasn’t exactly a lie. Physically, he was unharmed, and though he was thoroughly shocked and mildly afraid for his life, he knew somewhere inside of himself that this came with the job. The more he thought about the encounter, the more little things he noticed. Like the way Bill had genuinely not taken up an offensive stance even once while they’d been speaking. Or the way that he’d been almost comforting in the way he’d patted Dipper’s back with his tentacle as the Dove was emptying his stomach.

But then there was also the gleam of what looked like joy in the Ghoul’s eye when he’d dropped all of the bodies down around him, and also the chilling way he laughed and seemed to have no remorse for having killed those innocent people.

Dipper couldn’t help but notice, though, that the traits he exhibited… they were so similar to that of a human. Sure, they were the traits of a deeply disturbed human, but human nonetheless. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was more reason behind the Ghoul’s actions than just murdering for fun, or because he could. He felt as if he needed to find out, and going along with the monster’s plan seemed to be the best way to do just that.

Then again, he’d been told not to do any further digging… Surely the Ghoul couldn’t know everything about him, though. There was no way he could see into Dipper’s office while he took his notes; no way he’d be able to peer into his bedroom when the blinds were pulled. He’d just have to work in secret, and keep all of his opinions and theories to himself.

“...pper? Dipper? DIPPER!”

He jumped when his twin yelled right in his ear, and cold cocoa splashed onto his shirt and lap. The sudden loud noise had shocked him, and he found his heart pounding wildly in his chest as he stared at the concerned face of his sister.   
  


“Hey, um, sorry, you just.. kinda spaced out. But it’s almost midnight. I know they gave you the day off tomorrow, but you still need some sleep. Come on, we’re having a slumber party in my room tonight. I set up a pallet in there and you can have the bed.” she said, looking a bit sheepish and apologetic for having scared him, but smiled nonetheless.

He felt his pulse begin to slow to a normal rate again, and let out a sigh of relief, suddenly exhausted. He couldn’t believe he’d spaced out for so long. He’d gotten home at eight… and now it was nearly midnight. The look in Mabel’s eyes told him everything he needed to know. She’d had the same mixture of worry and sadness in them when he’d been admitted to the hospital for his broken bones after their first encounter with a Ghoul.

Shit.

“Yeah, okay Mabel. Um.. I’m just… I’ll go change first, and meet you in there.” he said, feeling guilty for having left her to her own thoughts for so long. He hated to see her like this, and he also knew not to argue. Mabel was entirely too persistent whenever she was upset for him. She’d been especially relentless in their teenage years, when she grew tired of listening to his constant protests and shutting him down. Somewhere along the way, he accepted that she always did her best to help him, not hinder him, and began to take her help when it was offered.

“Sounds good, bro bro. I’m gonna change into my jammies too.” She confirmed, nodding and pushing herself up off the couch to do just that. Dipper followed her example and wandered, somewhat numbly, to the kitchen first to deposit the mug of cold cocoa, and then to his bedroom to put on fresh boxers and a T-shirt to sleep in. Once he was dressed in the clean, dry clothes, he made his way into Mabel’s room and promptly flopped down on the mattress of the bed.

“You’re the best, Mabel.” he mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear in the bathroom where she was, presumably, brushing her teeth. He groaned, realizing he should have done the same, but he didn’t particularly feel like getting back up to do it now. Too far to walk when he could just pull the covers over himself and pass out.

“I know I am. Now go to sleep, you goofball. I’m gonna make pancakes in the morning.” she said as she emerged from behind the closed door and knelt down to pull her covers back on the massive pile of blankets and brightly colored pillows he hadn’t even known she had. And then her lips were pulled into a frown and she got up again to switch off the lights, close the blinds, and lock both the bedroom and balcony doors. Dipper couldn’t help but smile at that. She always knew just how to make him feel more relaxed. He shifted to actually pull the covers out from under him to instead lay on top, just as she was getting back into her own pallet.

“Goodnight, Dipper. Sweet dreams. I left some fluorite under your pillow to help with any nightmares you might have.” Mabel said softly from her place on the floor.

Dipper smiled tiredly, genuinely touched by how much she was trying to make him feel safe. He could still smell incense lingering in the fabric of the pillow and also the comforter, and inhaled the scent deeply as he closed his eyes. She had good taste when it came to that stuff, and he was really appreciating it right now.

“Goodnight Mabel. Thanks for all of this.” he said tiredly, relaxing fully into the mattress as he heard a gentle ‘you’re welcome’, and then he was out much faster than he’d could have anticipated. But the stress had worn him down, and his body was craving the sleep more than his mind was craving the time to think about the day.

Mabel breathed a sigh of relief once she heard her brother’s breathing even out, glad that he was able to get to sleep at all after today. She was still immensely worried for him, but at least he should be well rested in the morning. So without further ado, she let her own mind wander aimlessly until her body sank into unconsciousness. The room was silent, then, but for the sound of soft breathing from the two siblings and best of friends.

****  
  


* * *

 

The next morning, Dipper woke to the smell of pancakes and bacon wafting in from the kitchen. He felt his stomach growl hungrily and cracked an eye open to confirm that it was, indeed morning. The sun seemed to be higher in the sky than it usually was when he woke, so he swiftly deduced that he’d overslept. A moment of panic shot through him, and he jolted upright and looked to his bedside table to see… that he wasn’t in his room.

Oh, right. He’d slept in Mabel’s room. And he had the day off today. A loud groan escaped him as he flopped back onto the pillow and threw an arm over his eyes. He didn’t want to move. His muscles were sore, and he figured it probably had something to do with how stiff he’d been the day before during his encounter with the Ghoul. He frowned and moved his arm off of his eyes again so he could stare blankly at the ceiling. That… had all been real, hadn’t it?

“Dipper! I hope you’re awake because breakfast is nearly done and I am /not/ going to wait for you before I eat mine!” his twin called from the kitchen, and he let out a puff of air and ran his hand briefly through his hair, and then pushed himself up. His legs swung over the edge of the bed, and then he was standing. He got up a little too fast, though, and for a minute the world spun and faded into black before returning to focus. He blinked away the remaining stars in his vision and cursed himself for not taking it slower first thing in the morning.

“Yeah, I’m up.” He grumbled, just loud enough for Mabel to hear as he shuffled towards the slightly cracked open door and pulled it open fully to enter the living area. He offered his sister a small smile, though she couldn’t see it as she was more focused on watching the batter bubble at the top of the pancake in the skillet.

“You want eggs? I haven’t made them yet and I wasn’t sure if you were gonna be able to eat that much.” Mabel asked, finally looking up at Dipper just as he was slipping into a seat at the table, looking like hell warmed over. She could see the distress on his face, and knew he was already starting to obsess over the events that had transpired the day before. She could also tell that more had happened than he was letting on. He’d only told her that he’d come across a lot of dead bodies, but if that had been the case then he wouldn’t have come home covered in their blood. But as he was clearly too stressed to further elaborate on the situation, she wasn’t going to press for details. Yet.

He nearly missed the question, having been thinking (as Mabel had predicted) about how he was going to file his report on the incident. He hadn’t mentioned the Ghoul, who he’d begun calling Horus, to anyone yet, but he knew that he was going to have to. He just had to figure out a way to explain the situation with the man without telling anyone the dangerous deal he’d made with him. He’d surely be suspended, maybe even fired, if he did. “Um, no thanks, Mabes. I think I’ll stick with the pancakes and bacon today.” He answered after a moment’s hesitation, half afraid that if he spoke too soon he was going to blurt out his thoughts as he was sometimes prone to doing. And Mabel didn’t need to know about the deal either. If anyone would hit him for it, it would be her. That much he was sure of.

She sensed his hesitancy and frowned deeply at him, but nodded anyways. “Okay. The last pancake is almost done. I gotta eat and run, are you gonna be okay alone today? I could call Candy or Grenda or-” she was cut off when Dipper raised his hand to stop her, and she quickly closed her mouth.   
  
“I’ll be _fine_. I’m… I’m gonna go shopping today, since I couldn’t bring home the groceries yesterday. Gotta head to the office and pick up some paperwork, too. Incident reports to fill out and such.” he explained, trying to smile for her again to calm her nerves. She got worried too easily, and he didn’t need her sharing his stress. Not just yet, anyway. For now, he was actually a little glad to have the day to himself. He needed to think over Horus’ offer, after all, and decide whether or not it would be worth it to go along with his plans.

Mabel didn’t think it was a good idea to leave him alone, but knew how stubborn he could be, so she figured it would just be better to keep tabs on him via text throughout the day. He still had his warhammer and pistol, so he would probably be okay so long as he wasn’t out too late and stuck to public places. “Well, just be careful. And try not to let that big dumb brain of yours bother you too much, got it?” she huffed, flipping the pancake and noting that it had burned a tiny bit. Ugh, she was going to have to eat this one. No way she was making Dipper eat subpar pancakes this morning.

“Yeah, no worries. I’ll be just fine.” he reassured her, and then it was quiet for the next few minutes until she flipped the last pancake onto her plate, turned off the stove, and moved to sit next to him at the table. She slid his plate to him with a smile, then handed him a fork and a knife. The syrup was already in place, and she grabbed it first so she could bog her already unhealthy breakfast down with massive amounts of sugar. Dipper couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Mabel’s ridiculous nature never failed to cheer him up, even if only a little. Once she was done loading her cakes down, he grabbed the bottle and poured a moderate amount on his own.

“So where are you heading today? New client?” he asked, already cutting into his food and shoveling some of the sweet, fluffy pancakes into his mouth.

“Mmhmm. She wants me to design her company’s logo, so I’m gonna meet up with her to discuss the details. I’m also gonna go to lunch with Gabe later. And then the girls want to go see a movie with me later on, so I’m going to hang out with Grenda until then.” Mabel explained, talking with her mouth full, as usual. Dipper wasn’t even bothered by it anymore, after years of dealing with it.

He swallowed his own food down before he replied. “Wow. Busy day. And Gabe again? I thought you broke up with him.” he said, frowning at his sister. He didn’t like that blonde prick. He always acted as though he was better than everyone else, and had an obsession with theater that bordered on creepy. But Mabel insisted he was a good guy, and he’d given up fighting with her about it.

“He apologized to me for being a jerk. I’m only giving him one more chance, but if he cancels a date one more time to go to another run of Wicked then I give you full permission to drop kick him.” She said, smiling at Dipper and giving him a thumbs up. He sighed, still not fully satisfied with her answer, but unable to summon the energy to explain to her _again_ how much of an asshole Gabe was. So he just shut himself up with a piece of bacon.

Their breakfasts were eaten pretty quickly, since both of them had missed dinner the night before, and Dipper hadn’t realized just how hungry he was. Their conversation was pretty easy, but it was Mabel who did most of the talking, and that’s the way Dipper preferred it. When it was time for his sister to leave, he gave her a hug and a strict warning to be careful, and then she was gone. He went about his morning routine as he normally would, though he dressed himself in a much more casual outfit of dark denim jeans and his favorite orange shirt before he brushed his teeth and hair. He wanted to take care of all of his business as quickly as he could today, simply because he didn’t want to be out so late again, so he made short work of the dishes and tidied up his mess from Mabel’s room. He threw the blankets from her pallet in the washing machine, too, to wash later. He could start it later, when he had more to add to it, but for now he just needed the mess off her floor. She deserved that much after all she’d done for him.

The last thing he did before leaving the house was grabbing his jacket, pistol, and briefcase. He locked the door behind him, but when he turned around, his stomach sank. Peeking out from under the doormat was a small gold envelope, and he wondered if it had been there when Mabel left, where she could see it.

He hoped she hadn’t. If Mabel found out about what was going on, she would most likely make them move, immediately. She’d force Dipper to quit his job, and they would leave the country as soon as possible. But he didn’t want that. He wanted to stay, and study Horus and other Ghouls, and if he had to quit his job he would lose that opportunity.

He silently prayed to whatever deity might be listening that Mabel hadn’t noticed the envelope, and bent over to pick it up in a shaking head. On the front, in very neat and flowing cursive letters, was written, “ _To Pine Tree,_ ” and on the back was a black wax seal with the imprint of the Eye of Horus. There was no doubt that this came from the Ghoul, and he shuddered as he ripped through the paper and pulled it open.

The message inside was simple, but struck a sense of fear into Dipper nonetheless. It was written in the same flowing cursive as on the front of the envelope, and read only, “ _I hope you dreamt of me_.” There was no signature of any kind, it didn’t need one. And indeed, his nightmares had been filled with nothing else but the Ghoul, and the faces of each of his victims. It was unsettling, and he felt weak at the knee just thinking about the cold, dead stares he’d gotten from every single one of them so far. The worst part, though, had been the laughter. It rang out so chillingly, and rattled him to the very core.

Now he was wishing he hadn’t eaten so much. He shook his head vigorously in a futile attempt to dispel the haunting memories, and crumpled up the paper in his hands. There was a trash bin at the end of the hall, and he moved towards it swiftly and tossed the paper in without a moment’s hesitation. Half of him wanted to burn it, to wipe it from existence entirely, but he didn’t have the time or the energy for that. He had work to do.

Not wasting another moment, he turned on his heel and headed down the stairwell, eager to get on with his business and forget all about the decision awaiting him in such a short amount of time.

His visit to the office was brief, and uncomfortable. The news of his attack had spread quickly, and half of his coworkers went silent as he passed them. He knew they were talking about him, but the staring was worse. It felt like the whole building was watching him. He was grateful not to see Wendy there, but he was sure she’d probably already heard too.

Any and all questions were brushed off easily, and once he’d gotten his report papers in hand, Dipper took the nearest exit despite the fact that he was parked on the other side of the building. Anything was better than dealing with all of the awkward looks and hushed conversations that he’d already put up with just coming into the building. So, even though it was burning up outside, he walked the extra distance all the way around the building, and back to his car. From there it was a short drive to the grocery store, and he really only needed a few things anyways. When he got home, he dutifully carried up the bags of groceries, paperwork tucked under his arm, and then locked himself inside for the next several hours until Mabel was finally home.

He’d picked up his journal at the office, and despite the Ghoul’s warning, he had to study his behaviors. His official report for the CCG was brief, leaving out the proposition entirely, and stating that he’d only seen a brief glimpse of the murderer before he got away. He did, though, note down the description of the Ghoul’s mask, and explained the reason behind his dubbing the man “Horus”. They needed some sort of name to refer to him by, after all. Otherwise, though, his report was mostly about the bodies, the location, time of day, and what he’d been doing prior to the incident.

But in his journal, the event was written out much more fully. Every little detail that he could remember was written down, and he still hadn’t finished it even by the time he heard his sister’s key sliding into the lock on the front door, followed by a singsong voice announcing that she was home. There was a moment of silence following her words, before she cautiously called his name out, and the sound of footsteps towards his door signalled that she was coming to check on him.

It wasn’t until he felt a tap on his shoulder that he was actually made aware of her presence. He’d been so enraptured with his writing that he hadn’t even registered her coming home. So when the unexpected touch came, his first instinct was to yelp in alarm and just about fall out of his chair.

“Oh, uh, hi Mabel.” was his sheepish response, staring up at his sister with wide eyes full of alarm. He’d expected someone entirely different, and his heart had leaped to his throat in a very brief moment of panic before he recognized the familiar face. His own face, actually, just softer and framed by longer hair. Mabel’s lips were twisted in a frown, and she glanced between Dipper and his journal, quickly putting together what had been going on prior to her interruption.

“Dip, how long have you been staring at that thing?” she questioned slowly, crossing her arms over her chest and looking to the pen that had rolled to the floor when he’d jumped. It was chewed up rather severely at one end, and she couldn’t help but wonder how in the _hell_ it hadn’t busted in his mouth yet. His mouth flapped for an excuse, but before he could answer, his eyes darted to the clock and he was immediately jumping out of his chair.

“Oh Jesus! It’s already past midnight?! Shit, Mabel, why didn’t you text me?!” he demanded, bending over to snatch up his near-ruined pen from the floor and then throw it in its cup with his other writing utensils. Then he was snapping the journal shut and shoving it in a drawer at his desk, and finally tucking all of his paperwork into the folder he’d brought it home in and stuffing it into his bag.

“I _did_ text you. Like, eleven times. You didn’t reply.” Mabel sighed, watching his scramble to put everything away before he darted to his bathroom to clean up for the night. “I’d say I can’t believe you, but this isn’t the first time you’ve gotten weirdly obsessed with your job.” she commented, following him to the door and holding back a snicker when he nearly tripped over his own feet in an attempt to rid himself of his shoes.

“I had to fill out the report, it took time.” he defended weakly, shucking his shirt off and swiftly shoving his toothbrush into his mouth. Mabel was half tempted to tell him he had tomorrow off as well, but it was too much fun watching him falling over himself like this. Plus, it would be an even bigger relief when she finally did tell him, right? Right. Mabel was such a good sister.

“Yeah, well, it looked like you were writing a whole lot more in that journal, honestly. What’s even in that thing anyway? Government secrets? Conspiracy theories? Because you sure treat it like it’s something nobody can ever know.” she huffed, craning her head back to look at the drawer that said book was residing in. His glare could be felt even before she turned her head back to see it for herself.

“I’s none o’ yer bu’nesh.” he slurred around the toothbrush, shifting his angry look from Mabel back to the mirror to make sure he hadn’t missed any part of his teeth. Seeing that they’d all been well-lathered, he spit out the paste and rinsed it all out with a hearty swig of water before it too went down the drain. He cleared his throat before he spoke again, straightening up from his hunched position over the sink and crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m just cataloguing some things I’ve put together about this Ghoul. I’m trying to figure out a psychological profile. I think it might help the case.” he explained. It was true, but he still sort of felt bad about not telling Mabel the other part of what he was doing. Then again, if he told her about his face-to-face encounter with said murderer, she’d probably flip and tell their Grunkle Stan. And then he’d definitely be pulled off the case. That just wouldn’t do for his research.

“Well… try not to work yourself so hard. I’m gonna go to bed, and you should do the same. You have tomorrow off, by the way.” Mabel said, then turned quickly and left the room before Dipper could even react. He was left with his mouth agape, almost angry that she hadn’t told him sooner, but also immensely relieved that she’d even told him at all.

With a frustrated sigh, he pulled his pants off and left the bathroom, flipping off the light as he did, then moving to the lamp on his desk that was still on from his working. Once it’d been shut off, he dragged himself over to bed and crawled into it. He wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to sleep, and anxiety crept slowly into his heart as he laid there waiting for dreams to relieve him of this hell.

But sleep took him surprisingly quickly, due to the stress he’d put on his body through the whole ordeal he’d been dealing with. It would have been relieving to rest, if not for the nightmares plaguing his mind. Images of bodies, hanging above him, with their organs spilling out of their open bellies like grotesque waterfalls; the feeling of wet flesh wrapping around his limbs- intestines, he could see when he looked down- restraining him and even sliding around his throat to cut off his breath as he tried to scream. And when he looked up, away from the organs, he finally noticed that amidst all of his terror and disgust, a figure had been observing him, and then suddenly he could hear laughing. But then he _remembered_ the laughing. It had always been there, since the start of all of this. It had been there when the bodies dropped from the sky, had been there when the organs started to grab him like snakes, had been there when he’d tried to scream.

The laugh was constant. It rang out around him, and now more than ever he wanted to scream. Chills crept up Dipper’s spine as he felt a scaly appendage pressing against his navel, and when he looked down he saw that one of Horus’ tentacles was pressed against him, a sharp tip prodding delicately at his flesh. And then, as he watched in horror, the thing made a swift upward swipe, and his flesh split open in a perfect vertical split. He couldn’t actually feel the pain, but the mere knowledge of what was being done was enough to make his previously stiff limbs jerk violently in an attempt to pull away from the restraints. He could finally scream, but there was no sound, and that was more frustrating than anything. Tears welled up in his eyes, and spilled over as he continued to noiselessly shout, and he watched on as the tentacle pushed into his open wound, wrapped tightly around his own intestines, and then gave a sharp tug. The organs fell out with no resistance, pouring out onto the ground. But it was so much worse than just having them pulled out- they were unending. His innards just kept falling out, with no end, pooling at his feet and feeling wet and warm as they continued piling up, surrounding him.

He could still hear the laughter- louder now than it had been what seemed like hours ago, and he still couldn’t properly screamed, but he tried. His mouth was agape in silent wails of agony, and finally he had to look away from the gore piling and slowly climbing up around him. The wet warmth kept rising against his body, though, even past the wound, and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly when it reached his throat. The intestines that had been wrapped around his neck tightened again, and his ability to scream (however soundlessly) was cut off. In that same moment, the mass of bloody, hot flesh finally encased his whole being, and yet he could still hear the maniacal laughing.

He thrashed around, and then suddenly he was on the floor of his bedroom, eyes wide open and staring at the opposite wall. He was cold, and drenched in still-warm sweat. He wondered, briefly, what he’d been dreaming about, but before the recent memories could resurface, Mabel was throwing the door open and rushing over to him.   
  
“Oh my God, Dipper, are you okay?!” she demanded, practically forcing him to sit up and starting to press and prod at him to check for injuries. “What happened? You’ve been moaning and groaning all night, did you have a nightmare? You didn’t hit your head did you? Wait, you might have a concussion if you hit your head, do you remember your name? Your birthday? Do you remember me? What about-” her concerned tirade was cut short as Dipper snatched the pillow off his bed and shoved it in her face with a frustrated sigh.

“I’m _fine_ , Mabel. Calm down.” he groaned, rubbing the back of his head with the hand that wasn’t busy muffling his sister’s continued ranting with the plush pillow. But his brief moment of quiet was interrupted when she smacked the pillow away and stood with a huff. “Well, excuse me for being worried for my beta twin. Next time you fall out of bed, I’m not gonna come and make sure you’re alive, got it?” she snapped, arms crossing over her chest. Dipper just rolled his eyes and forced himself to his feet, glancing over at his clock to see that it was well after ten, when he’d actually /intended/ to get up. Must have been some deep dream.

“Yeah, alright, thanks for checking on me. Don’t you have work today?” he asked, shuffling towards the bathroom to brush his teeth. There was a strong tang in his mouth from sleep, and he wanted to be rid of it as soon as possible. Mabel followed him to answer his question, as well as to make sure he wasn’t going to collapse on the floor. “No, but I _am_ going out. And you’re coming with me. It’s not good for you to be cooped up in here all day like this, Dip.” she said, watching as he splashed his face with water to more fully wake up. Her lips pursed in irritation when she saw Dipper roll his eyes, though, and she swiftly moved forward to cuff him on the ear.

“Ow! What was that for?” he snapped, pulling away and turning to glare daggers at his sister. He received a huff and a raised eyebrow in response, and he looked down with an irritated expression, but he did feel a little guilty for blowing off Mabel’s concern after all she’d done for him over the past few days. “Okay, I deserved that.” he muttered, rubbing at his reddening ear as uncomfortable heat started to rise up in it.

“Damn right you did. Now clean yourself up and get ready to go. We’re gonna get some lunch and catch a movie with Candy and Grenda. Try not to slip in the shower.” She snapped, slightly bitter at him still, but her concern showing through anyway. With the potential head wound he’d (probably not) suffered falling out of bed, she was genuinely afraid he might hurt himself again if he wasn’t careful. But she didn’t voice anything more on it, instead turning to exit his bathroom and make her way to her own bedroom to pick out an appropriate outfit for their day.

Dipper sighed and closed the bathroom door, then shed his pajamas and showered as quickly as he could. Mabel took forever to get ready sometimes, but she’d still be upset if he was the one to make them late. Plus, if they were planning to go to the movies, Mabel was more likely on a strict time schedule and would be getting ready faster than usual.

By the time he was all cleaned and dressed, Mabel was applying the final touches to her makeup, and Dipper took the opportunity to check his phone for any texts from Stan. As expected, there were a few from him, telling his nephew to take it easy, and a few from Wendy with a similar message. But then there was another, from an unknown number, and his brows furrowed as he pressed the thread to read it.

His heart sank rapidly, and a shiver ran through him as if the room had suddenly dropped in temperature. He didn’t need to ask to know who the sender was.

_‘One more day, Pine Tree. I hope you’ve made your decision by the next time we meet. It’d be a real shame if you decline my offer, though. Consider your options carefully. XOXO, Horus_

__

_P.S. This phone will have been disposed of by the time you read this message. No point in tracing it. Sorry kid, I’ll be a little harder to find than that.’_

Dipper felt like he was going to vomit, and just as he was turning to throw his phone against the wall, Mabel finally pulled open her bedroom door and grinned at her twin, seemingly unaware of his distress. So his plan to break the device to tiny little pieces was abandoned, and instead he quickly pressed the ‘Delete’ button and shoved the phone into his pocket.

“You ready?” Mabel asked, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear and bouncing up to slip her arm into his. He just swallowed thickly and nodded, mirroring her smile to hide his fear. “Yup. Let’s hit the road.” he said, making quick note of her outfit to compliment her. She was always easily distracted if her hard work was appreciated. “Nice galaxy sweater, by the way.” he said, and then it was easy to tune her out and focus on his own inner panic as she started excitedly giving him the details to how she’d made it, where she had gotten the idea, things he could just nod along to and not actually pay any mind to.

Most of the rest of the day was spent like that, with Dipper’s mind restless, and his mouth shut as he tuned in and out of conversations with his sister and her friends. Of course, he pitched in the occasional opinion on… whatever it was they were talking about, just so he didn’t seem to distanced. Mabel had always been able to pick up on when he was overthinking his problems, so he’d gotten better at hiding it. She could still tell something was bothering him, but thought it best not to bring it up until they were alone again.

But when they finally made it home, it was after several rounds of drinks at Valentine’s, their favorite pub, and Mabel was too drunk to do much more than stumble into her room and pass out. Dipper was thankful for the lack of questioning, but he knew it would come soon enough. He’d stayed sober so that he could drive, but now that he was in the comfort of his own home, he located their bottle of Fireball Whiskey and took it back to his room, intent on drinking his worries away. And, miraculously, it worked. Within an hour, he was busy browsing conspiracy theory videos on Youtube, and grumbling his thoughts about them to himself with slurred words in between gulps of the alcohol, followed by chasers of water and coke. He couldn’t pinpoint when he’d passed out that night, but a blissful lack of dreams graced him in his sleep. No laughing, no bodies, nothing. Sweet blackness, and nothing more. It was the best rest he’d had in nearly two weeks.

The morning after, however, was hell. The morning sun throbbed painfully against his eyelids, and he whined pitifully as he hiked the covers up over his face. But his attempts of clinging to sleep were quickly thwarted, as his alarm was suddenly blaring from his phone. He heard a loud thud from the other side of the house, and figured that Mabel must have been just as upset about his damn _submarine siren_  alarm as he was at the moment. As quickly as his heavy arms would allow, he picked up the loud phone and pressed a bit too harshly at the “dismiss” button. He cursed his past self for having picked that particular alarm tone to wake him up, and once again contemplated chucking the phone at the wall. But before he could follow through with his half-serious plan, Mabel had pushed open the door and stormed over, yanking the warm covers off of him and glaring hatefully down at her brother.

“What in _hell_ possessed you to make your alarm that loud?” she snapped, and then winced at the loudness of her own voice. She looked as miserable as Dipper felt- with red-rimmed eyes, blotchy skin, and makeup smeared all over her cheeks from forgetting to take it off before her drunken haze had sent her stumbling into bed. She was even still wearing the same galaxy sweater and black jeggings from the day before. Dipper didn’t envy her one bit.

“I dunno, Mabes. Ask me again later _after_ I’ve gotten rid of this migraine.” he mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face and slowly sitting up. His whole body was heavy, and it hurt his head even more to put the effort into moving. Regardless, he had to go back to work today, and needed to get ready before he threw himself back onto his pillow. So he forced himself up and frowned at Mabel, who was busy covering her mouth and looking nervously to the open door. “Go ahead. I get the message, you’re mad. If you need to puke, don’t hold it back.” he sighed, giving her a light pat on the shoulder. She didn’t reply verbally, instead just nodding and rushing to her own room, and then her bathroom.

Dipper wasn’t feeling all that well either, but he had a stronger stomach, and knew he could hold it in. His morning routine went much slower than usual because of the horrible hangover, but he managed to clean himself up and don his suit for work, then left the house in order to get to work early enough to get a cup of coffee to calm his stomach before he actually had to deal with all the paperwork that was surely waiting for him.

It was all almost enough to make him forget about the Ghoul he’d be seeing the next day. Almost. But it seemed as if he didn’t even get five feet out of the elevator before he was being hounded by coworkers, asking about his wellbeing. The migraine only got worse when their loud voices surrounded him, and he had to quickly excuse himself to escape to the relative safety of the break room. At least there was fresh coffee in the pot this morning. It was quieter, too, and he had time to panic to himself about his situation without being seen by everyone. His moment was brief, since he knew it would do him no favors to be late because of something like this. He’d already been granted two days off, and he didn’t want to risk getting in trouble for punching in after he was supposed to be in. So, after his coffee was finished, he poured himself another cup to take along with him and navigated his way to the punch cards.

After he’d clocked in, he dodged any questions thrown at him and found his place at his desk. He passed Wendy on the way, but he couldn’t even summon the energy to talk to her. As he’d suspected, there was a mountain of paperwork waiting for him, and he groaned as he pulled out the first set of forms to fill out. He still wasn’t coherent enough to deal with this, but it was easier than entertaining “concerned” coworkers. So he threw himself into his work, ignoring everything else around him to the best of his ability.

Stan was, evidently, busy as well, or else he would have come to check on his nephew. But Dipper was entirely okay with not talking to him at the moment. The old man probably would have hounded him for drinking so much, so his presence was not missed.

The young inspector didn’t even finish all of his paperwork that day. It got harder and harder to concentrate the longer the day wore on. He was being eaten alive by worry, and by the time he had to clock out, there was still a sizable stack of papers he’d have to finish the next day.

That night, he paced back and forth restlessly across his room, until Mabel shoved a cup of chamomile tea into his hands and practically forced him into bed. He didn’t think he’d sleep at all that night, but all of his mental stress had worn him thin, and after only another hour he was out cold.

The same nightmare haunted his sleep, though, and the next morning he felt no better than he had the day before. If anything, it was worse, because now he could remember the dream. At work that day, he actually had to excuse himself from a talk with Wendy to run to the bathroom and empty his stomach into the toilet.

Horus was coming for him today, after all.

 


	4. Another note!!

Okay so this is just a quick message but I'm at Ikkicon in Austin this weekend and was wondering if anyone wanted to meet up? Idk I'd like to meet some of you guys if any of you are here!! Also actual chapter 4 is coming, I promise! I'll hopefully have updated by the end of the week!

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter two is still a work in progress, but it's almost done, so it'll be out soon!


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